


Watch Me and I'll Shine Brighter for You

by musubea



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi simping over bokuto, Comedy, Embarrassed owls, Fluff, I promise, Late Night Conversations, M/M, MSBY always messing with Bokuto, Minor Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Minor Sakusa Kiyoomi/Miya Atsumum, Pro Volleyball Player Bokuto Koutarou, Romance, a bit of, because who doesnt love bokuto, but its not sad, but not really, like the rest of us
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26506693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musubea/pseuds/musubea
Summary: What happens when two people meet up at a Izakaya bar in Kokubuncho?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Kudos: 18





	1. A Spiky Owl with Golden Eyes

_10:00 PM. The last train to Kokubuncho will arrive shortly._

Akaashi looks up at the neon sign above him, saying that the train will arrive in a minute; he calmly sighs and looks down at his well-worn watch. Every passing second starts to turn like an hour for him. Without him noticing, his left foot starts to tap against the ground, the noise echoing down the empty station. After waiting for a minute or so, he looks to the right and suddenly grabs his suitcase, the flickering light immediately makes him stand up. He feels an air of relief as if he had to wait much longer, his fingers would’ve started tapping against thighs. 

Akaashi walked up to one of the train’s sliding doors, waiting for it to open up. He looks through the glass door and something… specifically, someone piqued his interest. He slowly raises his brows and pushes his glasses up with his index finger. For some odd reason, his throat started to feel like it was constricting him. The entrance opened up and it took a second for Akaashi to realize that it was okay for him to go inside the train. He clears his throat and proceeds to go inside, taking the vacant seat next to the doors. He puts his suitcase on his lap, his arms above it and his fingers securing the bottom. Akaashi wanted to take another look at the person across from him. He looks down at the off-white floor before clearing his mind to slowly look at the person, Akaashi thought that if he looks up slowly, that person wouldn’t notice. It would be more natural that way, right? 

The moment his eyes focus on the person across from him, he studies him. The guy was sporting an athleisure look; a simple gray hoodie with a white shirt underneath it and a pair of black basketball shorts… _No, it looks too short to be one_. Probably, for volleyball? Akaashi watched enough men’s volleyball to realize that those were, in fact, a pair of black volleyball shorts. He notices the guy was wearing some type of knee pads that goes all the way up. Akaashi unknowingly tilts his head as he has never seen a volleyball player have those kinds of things, it was always the short-ones. Then, at the bottom, was a pair of common sports shoes, confirming that the guy is indeed a volleyball player. His eyes went back up to see the guy was focusing on his phone screen, so he decides to look at him a little longer. Akaashi notices that the guy had a particular hairstyle and hair color. It was mainly gray with black streaks, it was spiky all over the place, but it was not horrendous to look at. 

Akaashi tilts his head to the other side, his hair was reminding him of an owl. Akaashi mentally chuckles at the uncanny resemblance between the spiky guy and an owl, he was equally surprised that he would think of such things. It’s been awhile since he made up something so childish. At the same time, he looks down to see his eyes. He was mesmerized by it, they were the color of gold, he doesn’t know if the phone screen was the cause of it, but they were gleaming. If the spiky-haired guy would look up at him, he would be lost in it. To Akaashi, it was like looking at two shining stars. _I sound so cheesy._ He scoffed at his descriptions and did not realize it was loud enough for the guy to look up from his phone. He coughs a little bit and swivels his head to the side to avoid the guy’s stare. He steals a glance and notices the guy was still staring until he looks back down on his phone a few seconds later. Akaashi mentally sighs in relief and puts one of his hands over his chest, noticing that his heartbeat was increasing. He dismisses it, thinking it was just him being scared of getting caught by staring at a stranger. _Wait… what’s happening to me?! ...I seriously need to take a vacation from work._

His eyes went back to the ground and remember that he caught the stranger’s golden eyes. They were really mesmerizing; however, something was off. They seemed to be emitting this sad feeling, like the gleam he saw was not its full potential. Yet, even if that was the case, it felt like he was in a different dimension, just the two of them, alone, going somewhere together. That was just by this guy's eyes alone. His fantasy was cut off too quickly as the overhead started to announce that they were arriving at his destination. He sits up straight and dust off anything off of his suit. 

The train started to slow down and the overhead repeated its announcements, Akaashi slowly stood up from his seat with his one hand on the suitcase’s handle and the other on the metal bar to stabilize himself. As the train completely stops, from his peripheral vision, he sees the other guy also stand up. _Huh, this is his stop as well? Wait… this is the last stop for today._ The moment he stepped out of the train, he felt something strange. It seems as if he was sad to leave the train, which never happened before. 

Before going up the escalator, he quickly turned around. Despite the guy leaving after him on the train, he was nowhere to be seen. His shoulders slumps and heavily sighed as he steps onto the escalator. 

* * *

The night winds hit his face when he reached the top of the escalator, his eyes were blinded by the numerous neon signs, which occupied every inch of Kokubuncho. Akaashi, however, thinks that the boy’s golden eyes beat their glimmer by a mile. He took another heavy sigh the moment the scent of cigarettes and alcohol hit him, he mentally prepared himself for the treacherous walk to the bar that his coworker frequently goes to. It was a Friday night, so more people are here to get away from their realities and be someone else for a night or two. He curses his job for giving him a tiring day, he wishes they could’ve done it on a Monday or a Wednesday, just not today. He brings his suitcase close to him and starts to walk in a quicker pace than usual, he does not want the additional scent of sweat and other musty scents you can think of harassing his personal bubble. 

The walk was the most difficult he has ever taken, the visual picture of people throwing up and acting all drunk is now etched in his brain. Why did he listen to Tenma? He should’ve never came here, but then again… Akaashi remembered that Tenma did say this izakaya bar was really worth going to. _S_ _o he better be right._ _Or he’s really going to hear it from me... He should’ve also told me it was in a secluded area!_ He was going around in circles trying to find the bar, and he almost gave up. Fortunately, he found the place, thanks to a couple of guys talking about it down the street over. Surprisingly, the place was not decked out with neon signs or anything flashy, it was just your typical izakaya bar. It seemed out of place from all the clubs and karaoke pubs. He quickly goes inside the bar and he is greeted by dim lights and only a few people. Maybe they also wanted to stay away from all the chaos outside. 

He places down his briefcase between the chair and the counter. He sits down before ordering a beer and plate of beef tongue. He looks around the place to pass some time before the bartender comes out with his beer and beef tongue. He takes a sip of the beer, which was nothing special, just your everyday beer. Akaashi did not want to get wasted today, he did not want to go through the streets wasted. Next, he takes a bite of the beef tongue. Akaashi hums in delight and nods at how delicious it tasted. _So I guess Tenma is safe for now._ He kept eating in peace and did notice that someone sat down next to him until that person started to speak up. Akaashi raises his brows and slightly turns his head to see who he was sitting next to. 

He chokes on his beef tongue piece that he was chewing on, the guy next to him looks at Akaashi with great concern. The guy holds onto his shoulder, “Are you okay, man?”

Akaashi stops choking on his food and nods, he raises his hand to dismiss what just happened. “Ah, yes. I’m okay. Thank you for your concern.” _It’s the guy from the train!? What is he doing here?!_ Akaashi recognizes the familiar face, especially those golden eyes that he saw earlier. Even at a dimmed place like this, they’re still shining brightly.

“Oh, that’s good to hear. I was worried there, I don’t know how to save someone from choking.” The guy chuckles and pats Akaashi’s shoulder. Akaashi was flustered from the guy’s chuckle, he thought that it sounded nice. He was thankful that the place was dark, so he did not have to embarrass himself more from his flushed face. 

He glances at the guy who just recently got his order. _Well… that was quick. Probably a frequent goer._ He looks up to his hair and discovers that his hair somehow deflated compared from earlier. 

“Is the beef tongue good? I haven’t ordered that yet, I should though. It looks pretty good.” The guy points at his almost empty beef tongue plate. Akaashi snaps out of it and immediately nods. “Ah, yes. A coworker of mine recommended this place and told me to get it.” 

“I see, by the way. I’m Bokuto, Bokuto Koutarou.” _Hm. Bokuto… very fitting, an owl._ Akaashi smiles at him and points at himself. “I’m Akaashi, Keiji Akaashi.” 

“It’s nice to meet you, Akaashi. So, what are you? Some type of businessman?” Akaashi’s face becomes more flushed as he sees Bokuto’s eyes travel from top to bottom. 

“A-Ah, no. I work as an editor for a shounen manga magazine. What about you, Bokuto?”

Akaashi sees Bokuto’s expression change and his hair becoming more deflated, making Akaashi worry that he did something wrong. “Uhm… I’m a volleyball player, I play for the MSBY Black Jackals as an outside hitter.” _So, I am correct. A volleyball player._

* * *

The beer bottles started to multiply and other food was also getting delivered to them as time passed by in the Izakaya bar. Akaashi did not know how he got to this point, but he now knows Bokuto’s whole life story and why he was feeling deflated today. Apparently, he was not doing his best during their practice matches… something about not hitting a cross shot properly. He found out that he comes to this izakaya bar when he feels like he's not doing too well in volleyball, saying that this is the best place to let off steam. 

Akaashi also found out that his favorite food is yakiniku, his birthday is on the 20th of September, he also found out Bokuto’s one year older than he is. He also lives in Tokyo, which is the same for Akaashi. He notes that Bokuto is an extrovert type, the opposite of Akaashi. However, that does not bother Akaashi, it’s actually refreshing to see someone like Bokuto. He’s also not uncomfortable by Bokuto’s presence, rather, he feels like he can trust him or be safe by his side… despite only knowing for a couple of hours.

He briefly looks at his clock while Bokuto continues to talk about volleyball. _2:00?!_ He never stayed at a bar for that long. “Oh, shit! It’s 2:00 AM? Coach is going to kill me, I have practice tomorrow! Uhm, I guess that’s for today, sorry that I kept you up really late.” Bokuto chuckles while rubbing the back of his neck. Akaashi shakes his head, “No, don’t be sorry! I really enjoyed our time together.”

Bokuto’s eyes sparkle and he takes out his phone, “Please give me your number, you live in Tokyo, right? Maybe… we can hang out more?” Akaashi does not know if the alcohol had to do anything with his vision right now, but he thinks that he just saw Bokuto blush?! 

Without any hesitation, Akaashi takes out his phone from his briefcase. “Ah, yea! Sure, let’s exchange phones to put in our numbers.” Both of them swap their phones to put in their numbers. He hands back Bokuto’s phone, whereas Bokuto does the same thing. Both of them also paid for their food and drinks afterwards. 

Side by side, they leave the bar together. Akaashi is thankful that the busy streets of Kokubuncho have died down or else he would’ve been in trouble. 

“So, I guess this is where we say goodbye?” 

“Yea, I guess so.”

“Well, don’t worry! I’ll text you whenever I’m free. Also, I have a game that’s going to be televised! I’ll text you the details.”

“Yes, Bokuto. I will be looking forward to your text messages.”

* * *

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! i know it was a bit boring to read, but I'm making the next chapter more entertaining for you guys!


	2. We're In His World

_ One New Message - Now _

_ One New Message - Now _

_ One New Message - A Minute Ago _

After washing his dishes from breakfast, Akaashi picks up his phone and checks the screen, showing three new messages from a certain owl. He smiles and sees what Bokuto has to say at 10:00 AM on a cloudy Wednesday. 

_ “Hey Hey Hey! How are you doing? Hope I’m not disturbing your morning!” _

_ “I hope you remembered that I said I have a game coming up soon!!” _

_ “It’s on this upcoming Saturday! At 6, hope you can watch me play.”  _

Akaashi clearly remembers everything from that night, it’s something that no one can forget that easily. He looks at the messages that Bokuto sent, and it was the first time he texted Akaashi. He couldn’t mask the feeling of happiness that he’s experiencing right now as he has the biggest smile on his face right now.  _ I’ve gotten a new friend.  _ Akaashi does not have many friends, he has Tenma and his high school friend, Konoha. Both are more introverts, so Bokuto is a new breath of fresh air for Akaashi. 

He sits down on his dining chair and thinks for a moment on what to say back to Bokuto. He takes a few more minutes making a reply, but immediately deletes it afterwards. Akaashi sighs as he stares at the phone screen, he needs to hurry up and reply back.  _ It’s just a simple group of texts, what are you doing? _

_ “Good morning, Bokuto. I still remember, I’ll watch your match!” _

He quickly sent it, so he doesn’t have to stress about it longer. However, when he looks at his reply, he starts thinking that it was too formal for Bokuto.  _ Why did I say it like that?  _ He puts down his head on the table for a second before springing back up from hearing a notification sound. 

_ One New Message - Now  _

In a hurry, he unlocks his phone and looks at the new message.

_ “Yay, you better see me on TV! My cross shots are getting better.”  _ The new message made Akaashi chuckle and thought that the reply was simply cute, nothing less and nothing more. He gets up from his seat to grab his laptop from his coffee table before plopping down on his couch. He opens up his laptop and searches up MSBY volleyball matches, there, he sees a video called “MSBY Black Jackal v. Tachibana Red Falcons II Pro Volleyball Club Championships”  _ Oh… Championships? I guess his team is pretty good.  _ He clicks on the video and skips the intro to immediately watch the match.

As the match started, the camera zoomed in on a black-hair guy with two moles on his forehead and was the first one to serve the ball to the other team. The ball was received by the other team’s libero and was set up for their spiker to make the first score; however, it was stopped by a small orange-haired guy and Bokuto by blocking the ball. Akaashi was amazed by the small guy’s jumping abilities, despite his height.  _ Hinata… He looks like a tangerine, a tangerine that can jump really high.  _ He looks at the other teammates and another guy catches his attention, a dirty blonde-haired guy.  _ He looks really familiar, he looks like the guy who owns that one onigiri franchise that I really like.  _ However, his attention quickly averted back to Bokuto, who was waiting for the setter to set the ball for him to spike. 

Akaashi widens his eyes as Bokuto jumps up and gets ready in position to hit the ball. The camera zooms into Bokuto and his smile was evident as his hand meets the volleyball, then the next second showed the ball hitting the ground as the other team’s blockers missed it. Bokuto celebrates by putting his hands up and saying, “Hey hey hey!” to the audience. Akaashi was never into sports, but this guy, the way he jumps, how he stayed in the air longer than he can ever imagined, and how he made that score so effortlessly was just something that is so mesmerizing to see. Even if Akaashi was not there to experience it firsthand, he can feel Bokuto’s passion for volleyball, he was shining brighter than the others. Not only was Bokuto’s eyes like shining stars, but—he, himself—is a star. 

Two hours had passed and the match was finally over, and Akaashi did not move an inch. If he was so immersed by this single match, he definitely wants to see the upcoming match live. He quickly goes to the official volleyball website and sees that they’re still selling tickets for the match. He quickly gets up from his seat and runs to his bedroom to grab his wallet. After a few seconds of rummaging through his work bag, he jogs back to his couch and proceeds to pay for a single ticket to the game.  _ I just bought a ticket for a volleyball game.  _ It took a few seconds to process what just actually happened.

_ Shit. I bought a ticket because I simply think a guy that I met earlier this week is a... star.  _ Akaashi lays down on his couch and starts thinking of his recent decisions. Thank goodness, he finished his work before the deadline… He can’t handle working today and thinking of what he has done this past week. 

* * *

_ Saturday Afternoon _

_ “Can’t wait to see you play, Bokuto :)” _

_ “Hey Hey Hey! I’m ready to go and play some volleyball.” _

Akaashi and Bokuto have been exchanging texts throughout the week, Akaashi have noticed that Bokuto has a certain catchphrase of “Hey hey hey”, which is indeed cute. Even through texts, Bokuto’s energy radiates through it. He did not tell Bokuto that instead of watching it on TV, he’s going to watch him live. He was hoping to surprise him. 

Akaashi puts his phone back in his coat pocket and walks to the entrance of the stadium. He is amazed that tons of people are attending a volleyball match, he never knew how popular it is in Japan. He verifies his ticket with an employee and proceeds to go inside. The whole stadium is a new environment for Akaashi, everything was in chaos and full of cheers. There were endless vendors selling both teams’ merchandise. Of course, Akaashi goes for the MSBY goods. He walks up to one and sees a small little keychain of Bokuto, and just by seeing how cute it is, he has to buy it. 

So, with no hesitation, he bought it. 

The seller was kind enough to give him some freebies. A MSBY fan and a Bokuto banner.  _ It seems like I’m going in for a concert…  _ He thanked the seller and wanted to go inside to find a good seat. However, as he walked away, another vendor caught his eyes. 

“Onigiri Miya”.

He checks his watch to see if he has enough time to snatch an onigiri or two. He sighs in relief as he finds out he has 10 minutes before the match officially starts. He quickly walks up to the onigiri booth and sees a familiar face.  _ Wait, isn’t he that one volleyball player with Bokuto.  _ He blinked for a couple of seconds until a lightbulb inside his head went off.  _ Oh, twins! Now, that makes sense.  _

“Welcome to Onigiri Miya. What can I help you with?” 

“Oh, I would like two tuna onigiris… actually, make that three.” Akaashi bought another one, hoping it’ll be a good gift to give to Bokuto. 

Osamu looks at Akaashi as he was crazy for a moment for ordering three onigiris for himself. Nonetheless, he just guesses that Akaashi is a huge onigiri fan. “Mhm, sure. That’ll be 405 yen.”

Akaashi takes out the right amount of money and gives it to Osamu, he slightly bows and thanks him for the food. He turns his heels and starts to walk towards the court.  _ All right, no more distractions!  _ The moment he steps foot in the court, the smell of air salonpas hits him like a truck and the volume of the gymnasium was much louder than from the outside. It was nothing like the one from the video he watched earlier this week. He scans his eyes around to see if there were any seats vacant; then, he sees a group of people wearing MSBY shirts and waving banners around.  _ Ah, I found my people.  _ He quickly went to said section of the gymnasium and found a vacant seat near the front. He puts down the bag of merch on the ground, whereas the bag of onigiri is on his lap. He quietly waits for the match to start and as he waits he snaps a picture of the gymnasium. He sends it to Tenma and Konoha in their group chat. A few seconds later, he hears his notification bell go off.

_ “Eh? Akaashi, what are you doing??” _

_ “Watching a volleyball match.” _

_ “HUH?! Since when were you interested in sports?” _

_ “AH! Is it because of that bokuto guy you were talking about earlier this week” _

_ “Ohhhh, I see. So you’re telling me Akaashi is falling in love…? Wait, you only told Konoha?! I’m hurt :(” _

Akaashi looks at his phone with a concerned expression on his face, thinking they were jumping the gun too early for this. He was about to write a reply, but stopped as he heard a guy announcing the start of the match. He puts his phone away in his pocket once again and fully concentrates on the court. Everybody became quiet as they started to announce each team. The announcer started to call names from the Schweiden Adlers. Every member getting called out were jogging up, waving at the audience and high-fiving their team staff. 

Everyone cheered for each team member until the last four members, the cheers became even louder. By the volume of the cheers, he was guessing it was their best players on the team. It was finished before an eagle mascot came out, hyping up the team’s fans. 

Nicollas Romero, Outside Hitter.

Kageyama Tobio, Setter. 

Hoshiumi Korai, Outside Hitter.

Ushijima Wakatoshi, Outside Hitter.

They stand in the center of the court in a single line, looking all serious. Akaashi looks at the other side of the court to see Bokuto’s team getting ready to get out there. The announcer was getting the audience hype before calling the first member of the team, which was the captain. It was the same ritual for the MSBY, jogging up to wave at the fans and high-fiving their team staff. Also, the four last members also got the same treatment by getting most of the fan’s cheers. 

Sakusa Kiyoomi, Outside Hitter.

Miya Atsumu, Outside Hitter.  _ So, they truly are twins… They look exactly identical. _

Hinata Shoyo, Outside Hitter.  _ Tangerine.  _

Last, but not least… Bokuto Koutarou, Outside Hitter. 

Akaashi was clapping before abruptly stopping mid-clap, Bokuto started to do cartwheels on the gym’s floor. He finished it off with both of his arms pumping up into the air, saying his catchphrase. Akaashi tilts his head at the sight of what Bokuto was doing. He let out a small, yet an amusing laugh, covering his mouth. Half of his team were embarrassed, where the other were oddly amused by it. Especially Tangerine, who was starstruck by Bokuto’s actions. Then, they did the same thing where they stand in the center of the court with both of their respective mascots on both ends. Both captains looked at each other with the referee in the middle. He holds up a coin and asks each captain which side of the coin would they want. Afterwards, the referee flips the coin and reveals that it landed on tails. 

Schweiden Adlers are serving first. 

* * *

The first set ended with the Schweiden Adlers taking it and the second match belonged to the Black Jackal. The third set recently finished with the Black Jackal snatching their second win.  _ 23-25.  _ They barely managed to win it, and Akaashi never really took it to an account that volleyball is a really stressful game. He finished his first onigiri as he was hungry, but when it came to his second one, it was out of stress. He almost took the last onigiri, but stopped himself since it was his gift for Bokuto.

Speaking of him, he notices that Bokuto’s hair is becoming more deflated as time goes by. He doesn’t blame him, he was intently observing the match throughout and sees that Bokuto’s cross shot hasn’t been giving them a lot of points. Atsumu and Hinata consoles Bokuto as their break time is about to end. The buzzer went off to signal that the fourth match is about to begin. Bokuto slapped himself on the face with both of his hands before going back to the court. 

* * *

The fourth match was the most interesting set yet.

_ 17-17.  _ The Schweiden Adlers were leading at first, but it was turned around by Hinata. They celebrated for a couple of seconds until they rotated their positions. Bokuto was upfront this time around. Ushijima serves the ball first and is later received by Sakusa, then the ball gets passed on to Atsumu to set it. Was he going to pick Bokuto or Oriver Barnes? 

Atsumu screams out Bokuto’s name as he sets the ball to him. Akaashi has seen this scene before, but this was just  _ different.  _ Bokuto jumped into the air and it felt like everything had stopped for Akaashi, in his mind it’s as if Bokuto stopped mid-air and had grown wings on his back. The smile on Bokuto’s face was the same as before, Akaashi could really feel the passion behind it and his eyes were glowing gold, brighter than the time he saw at the bar. The passion, determination, and the will power of Bokuto was something that Akaashi will never find in another person. He was on a whole other level.

We’re living in Bokuto’s world. 

The time continues when Bokuto hits the ball with full strength and hits the ground with a loud sound. Bokuto turns to Akaashi’s side of the bleachers and cheers loudly as he usually does. As he was about to end his victory cheer, it died down quicker than Akaashi thought. He raises his brows, realizing that Bokuto is looking at him. 

Akaashi couldn’t hear him at all, but could figure out what he was saying by how he was moving his mouth. “...Akaashi?!” 

Akaashi could feel his ears burning up, thanking that Bokuto cannot see it. He waves at Bokuto, who in return was waving with both of his hands with a bright smile. No one else realizes that wave was for Akaashi, so everybody else in the audience just waves at him with screams and cheers. 

“Bokuto, get back here! We’re at a time-out right now!”

“Oh, right. Sorry, Tsum-Tsum!”

“Bokuto, what were you doing? You never wave at the audience!” Hinata exclaimed.

“I was waving at Akaashi!! He came here, I would’ve never thought he would come here!”

Hinata, Atsumu, and Sakusa look behind Bokuto’s back to look at Akaashi, who was feeling uncomfortable by having three strangers look at him at once. 

“Hm? Is he someone special, Bokuto?” Atsumu wiggles his brows and nudges Bokuto’s arm with his elbow to tease Bokuto.

“Mhm, he helped me out at a bar in Kokubuncho!”

The other three widen their eyes and look at each other, confused. “H-Helped you out? Like how?” Hinata frantically says to Bokuto, who looks at Hinata with the same confused expression.

“Huh?! We just-” Before Bokuto had the time to finish his sentence, the buzzer went off. The coach gestured them to go back to the court to continue the fourth set. 

_ 17-18.  _ The set continues and Akaashi only looks at Bokuto during the whole set, Akaashi has been seeing that Bokuto is playing much better, compared to the previous sets. 

The fourth set continues smoothly until the last few scores.  _ 24-24, that means deuce.  _ Now both two teams need to score two more times to win, rather than one. 

_ 24-25. One more point for MSBY! _

* * *

Bokuto is in the front line again, he waits for Kageyama to serve to their side. Before doing anything else, he briefly glances at Akaashi. He finds it adorable that Akaashi has both of his hands clasped together tightly and has his brows furrowed as if he was praying intensely. 

_ Just so you watch, I’ll even shine brighter.  _

The moment he hears the ball getting hit by Kageyama, he focuses back on the game. He watches the ball’s direction, and waits for Atsumu to give him the signal once again. As he sees the ball resting on Atsumu’s fingertips, he looks Atsumu, who was looking at him dead-on. Bokuto nods at the subtle signal and gets into position. He breathes in before giving himself a small distance, so he can have a running start. When the ball leaves Atsumu’s touch, Bokuto runs up to the ball and jumps ever so highly. He puts his arms back and keeps his eyes on the ball.  _ A cross-shot.  _ He got the feeling that this was going to be the one. He grins as he sees an opening, then hits the ball with no hesitation. 

“AHH, BOKUTO KOUTAROU HIT A SUCCESSFUL CROSS-SHOT! ...AND OUR WINNER OF THE MATCH IS… MSBY BLACK JAKAL!” Bokuto went back down and without wasting a second, he looked at his team. He runs up to them and gives them a hug of victory. After celebrating with his team, he looks at the audience. He sees Akaashi standing up and with him clapping. Bokuto then widens his eyes as he sees Akaashi pull out a banner with his name on it.  Bokuto felt a feeling he never experienced before, his cheeks turned a hue of pink and gave Akaashi a thumbs-up. He wants to see him,  _ badly. _

* * *

A/N: It's Bokuto week!! So of course I have to post something! As always, I hope you guys like this chapter, I tried making it more entertaining for you guys to enjoy!


	3. What Exactly Are You to Me?

Both teams interacted with the fans on the court for some time, Akaashi walked out of the bleachers and went outside where the vendors were to wait for Bokuto to finish. Bokuto finished meeting up with the fans and with some journalists for interviews. After all of the commotion, he glances over at the bleachers and notices right away that Akaashi was gone from where he was. 

Hoping that Akaashi didn't automatically go home , Bokuto quickly runs to the locker room, not caring about the looks he got from his teammates and coaches as he just wants to grab his phone from his sports bag. He unlocks his phones clumsily and fumbles with his thumbs. He’s really hoping that Akaashi was still inside the gymnasium or somewhere nearby.  _ Please don’t go home yet! _

_ “Akaashi! Arr yoi still here?2”  _ Bokuto slaps his forehead as he looks over at his text to Akaashi. 

“‘Arr’? What are you, a pirate, Bokuto?” Bokuto jumps from the sudden voice he hears on his left side, he looks over and sees Atsumu teasing him. He widens his eyes out surprised and instinctively puts the phone against his chest, not wanting anyone to see his texts anymore. 

“I was just in a hurry!! Do not tease me!” Bokuto was about to continue to go off on Atsumu before he heard a notification sound going off. Bokuto puts his phone near his eyes, so no one reads the new text. 

_ “Haha, yes. I’m near the onigiri booth.”  _ After reading the last two words from Akaashi’s text and sighs in relief, before Bokuto looks at Atsumu with a deadpan expression. Atsumu looks at him with his brows raised with confusion. “What’s wrong, Bokkun? Did you get rejected?”

“Bokuto got rejected?! By who… Akaashi, right?” Hinata joins the conversation as he looks at Bokuto’s expression with a worried face. Bokuto frantically shakes his head and points at Atsumu. “I’m going near Samu-Samu’s booth to meet with Akaashi.”

“Ah, so we’re all going to the Onigiri’s Miya booth? Well, let’s go right now.” 

Bokuto tilts his head as he sees Sakusa, Hinata, and Atsumu getting ready to go with him. “Huh, why are we ALL going? I never said that-”

Atsumu interrupts him and puts an arm around Bokuto’s shoulders, “Well, you have to introduce your boyfriend to your friends, Bokkun.”

“Huh, b- boyfriend?! He is not my boyfriend, he’s just a friend I met recently. That’s all to it!”

“Mhm, but I’ve never seen you act like that before. You do not even use your phone that much, and now you’re here running to it while looking like a maniac.”  _ Sakusa does make a point _ ,  _ what is Akaashi to me?  _ Bokuto squints his eyes as he tries to concentrate and gather up his thoughts, letting his hair become deflated once again. 

Seeing how Bokuto’s hair has changed, Hinata hurriedly consoles Bokuto, “Bokuto, you should go! He’s probably still waiting for you.” Hinata shoos Bokuto away.

Bokuto’s hair suddenly stands up straight once again as he realizes that he has been wasting his time “AH, you’re right! Thanks, Hinata!” He puts his jacket on and grabs his backpack in no time. He hurriedly waves at the guys before going out of the locker room. 

“...We are following him, right?”

“We totally are, Omi.”

* * *

Bokuto anxiously looks around for Akaashi because he simply does not know what to say to Akaashi when he meets up with him again. What Sakusa said keeps going back to Bokuto’s mind, what exactly is Akaashi to him? Bokuto does think Akaashi is a bit more special than anyone else, but what is it that makes him special? He immediately stops his track as he sees a familiar figure nearby. All of his thoughts were slowly getting away in his mind, he tightly grips on his sports bag’s handle and gulps before taking another step forward. Akaashi sees Bokuto, Akaashi shly waves at Bokuto. Bokuto does the same and he starts to think why the gymnasium was becoming hotter.  _ It’s probably because of Samu-Samu’s onigiri booth! _

He mentally nods to himself and starts to walk again, but with more ‘oomph’ to his walk. The moment he was close enough to Akaashi, Akaashi greeted him with a huge smile. “It’s not much, but here. I bought you an onigiri, you’re probably dead tired.” Akaashi chuckles quietly while using his free hand to rub his nape. Bokuto was taken aback from suddenly receiving a gift from someone, he hurriedly accepted the bag of onigiri. “Thanks, Akaashi! I've never gotten something like this before.” Bokuto didn’t waste time and grabbed the last onigiri in the bag to start eating it. Akaashi softly smiles at the sight in front of him. 

Osamu raises his brow at the sight of the interaction between Akaashi and Bokuto, he has never seen Akaashi and he also never seen Bokuto act like that before. He thinks that this is a really interesting situation right now, he has to tell Atsumu about this later. 

“You were great out there, Bokuto. Also, congratulations. I had a lot of fun watching this whole match, the last one was really nerve-wrecking.” Akaashi nods while fixing his glasses. 

“Thanks, I have a really great team! You didn’t tell me that you were actually coming over to see the match live, I could’ve gotten a ticket for you.” Bokuto munches on the onigiri, his hair slowly deflating. Akaashi notices how Bokuto’s hair is deflating once again. “I just wanted to surprise you, that’s all! I saw one of your previous matches online and I wanted to see this one in person.”

Bokuto’s face flushes a slight pink hue, he was not expecting that type of answer from Akaashi. Bokuto has noticed that Akaashi isn’t much of a talker from their texts from this week. Not knowing what to say, he aggressively munches on his onigiri. Osamu scrunches up his nose as Bokuto is totally obvious, but Akaashi on the other hand, is oblivious. He looks over to the left to see three familiar faces hiding behind a wall. Osamu subtly gestures to come forward since he couldn’t bear to watch Akaashi and Bokuto anymore. Atsumu got the message and signaled the other two to follow him. 

Atsumu leads them to where Akaashi and Bokuto are and when they are behind them, Atsumu slings his arm around Bokuto. At the sudden movement, Bokuto chokes on his onigiri. Akaashi leans forward to see if Bokuto was okay, he looks at him with great concern.

“Now, Bokkun! Why are you so aggressive with the onigiri? Why are you gulping it down in front of your new friend.” Atsumu grins as he sees Bokuto turning redder than before. He looks at Akaashi and gives a wide smile. “You must be… Akaashi? Sorry for our friend, he’s not much to be… messy.” Akaashi blinks at him as to how Atsumu knew his name. “Ah, you must be confused! I’m Atsumu, the setter for MSBY. Bokkun here has been talking about you non-stop!” Atsumu gives out a hearty laugh, meaning just to tease Bokuto. Bokuto widens his eyes and punches Atsumu on his side. 

“Bokkun, you have to try harder than that! I’ve been living with Osamu for most of my life, I grew numb from the punches.” Atsumu gives out a menacing smile at Bokuto.

Akaashi thought the nickname, ‘Bokkun’ was the cutest thing that he has ever heard. However, that thought has disappeared as Atsumu’s words have finally processed inside of Akaashi’s mind.  _ He has been talking about me?! To his teammates? About what…?  _

Bokuto gulps down on the last piece of the onigiri and tries to dismiss what Atsumu has said “Ignore them, Akaashi! They just like to tease me a lot.” Bokuto chuckles out of embarrassment, hoping that Akaashi doesn’t question it. 

Akaashi just slowly nods, getting overwhelmed by the bombastic personalities by the two volleyball players right in front of him. Akaashi’s mind was just filled with what Atsumu has said, he mentally apologizes to Bokuto as he cannot just simply ignore what has been said. 

“By the way, Akaashi! This guy’s name is Sakusa, you can call him Omi.” Bokuto points at the black-haired guy with a mask covering the lower half of his face. He simply puts his hand up as a greeting and Akaashi does the same, with a pursed smile. 

“No, I only get to call him Omi, Bokkun.” Bokuto ignores what Atsumu has said, and moves to the next player. He points at the guy who has orange hair. He pulls the orange-haired guy and puts his arm around the said guy. “This one’s named Hinata! He has been my disciple since high school, even though we went to different high schools!” Hinata gives Akaashi a wide and bright grin, throwing up a peace sign. 

“Ehem, you guys? You guys need to move over, I still have customers here. You guys are giving us more traffic than usual.” Everyone’s gazes change to Osamu, who has his nose scrunch up once again, looking down at us with his arms crossed.

“Samu, isn’t that a good thing-” Atsumu shrinks as Osamu gives him a death glare, signalling that they should move somewhere else. Atsumu immediately got the signal and led everybody else somewhere more secluded.”

“Thank God for your brother, I was about to get out of the place.” Sakusa shivers at the thought of people getting closer to him with the germs. Bokuto leans over to Akaashi to whisper something. Knowing what Bokuto is doing, he simply leans forward to Bokuto. “Sakusa doesn’t like germs, wants to be clean. Therefore, he doesn’t like it when there’s too many people around.” Akaashi listens to what Bokuto has just whispered and lets out a small sound of ‘ah’, understanding Sakusa. 

* * *

The little group stopped at a hallway near the locker room from before. Akaashi looks around to see portraits of different volleyball players and countless trophies inside a clear case. Akaashi wonders if he’s even allowed to be in this area, isn’t this supposed to be only for volleyball players-

Atsumu leads them inside the locker room, the scent of sweat and cologne mixed together hit Akaashi hard, thus subtly making his face scrunched up until Atsumu have said something “Well, we’re going now!” Atsumu suddenly waves goodbye to Akaashi and Bokuto, leaving them dumbfounded from the sudden words. Atsumu signals Sakusa and Hinata to follow him again. Sakusa rolls his eyes at Atsumu’s antics, but continues to follow him. Hinata, being confused as to what’s going on also just followed along. “Where are we going, I have to meet up with Kageyama after this?” Atsumu hushes Hinata, slinging his arm around him. Atsumu looks back at Bokuto, giving him a grin. 

“Uhm, so am I allowed to be here?”

“Uh- yes, well- not really? But! The coaches and everyone else has already left, so they can’t say anything about this.” Bokuto rubs the back of his neck, getting more nervous as every second has gone by.

Both Akaashi and Bokuto look away from each other, struggling what to say next to each other. Both of them take a deep breath and look at each other at the same time. 

“Would you like to go back to the bar?”

“Should we go to the bar?”

Both of them blink, realizing they have said similar things to one another. Resulting in them to shyly chuckle. “Yes, I would like to go back to the bar. For a celebration?” Akaashi chuckles once more, making Bokuto’s face to heat up with a shade of red. This time around, there was nothing to blame it on. He’s blushing because Akaashi, just him. The sound of his little chuckle made Bokuto’s heart do cartwheels like he has done. Just one small action made Bokuto lose at words, what exactly is Akaashi to Bokuto? Bokuto, not knowing what to say, just points gestures at the door. “Uhm, we should get going! We might miss the last train if we stay any longer.” 

“Ah, yes. We should keep going.” Akaashi gives a small smile to Bokuto, who just simply nodded, not wanting to say anything too strange for Akaashi. Opening the locker room door, he looks outside to see if there are more fans waiting for him by peeking his head out of the hallway. When it was safe to get out, he gestures to Akaashi to follow his lead. Bokuto holds onto Akaashi’s wrist, not knowing what Akaashi looks like right now.

Akaashi was dying on the inside, no one had held him like that before. Was not expecting this from a guy that he met a week or two ago. He looks at Bokuto, who was concentrating to get out of the stadium as soon as possible. He couldn’t hold his excitement, pursing his lips together to prevent any signs of smiling out of pure happiness. What has Bokuto done to him, he never felt like this before! He was confused at his own feelings, not knowing how to control them or how to act upon them. Akaashi starts to think that he should’ve worked on romance mangas, rather than shounen mangas. Maybe he could’ve learned a thing or two. 

_ This is just some friendly get-together, right? Is that all to it? _

Both think,  _ you’re making me crazy. How are you doing that? _

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry guys, I know some of you have waited a long time for this! I just lost some motivation, but here I am again! I wanted this chapter to be just a bit shorter, compared to previous chapters! I want the next chapter to have a bit more romance than usual, just to spice things up a little but lol. Anyway! As always, thanks for reading this story and I hope that you guys enjoyed it! Constructive criticism or just comments are welcomed as well. 


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